Depression Commercials

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Source:https://img00.deviantart.net/c2ff/i/2004/225/2/7/strong_sad_and_zoloft_guy.jpg

It is so interesting to me at how many commercials there are for depression medications. Have you noticed them lately? And it’s the side effects that really are depressing. Just think about it: “This medication may cause drowsiness, dizziness, sleep problems (insomnia), nausea, upset stomach, gas, heartburn, constipation, weight changes, dry mouth, yawning, ringing in the ears, decreased sex drive, difficulty having an organism (changed the word; this is a family blog!), thoughts of suicide, very stiff (rigid) muscles, high fever, sweating, fast or uneven heartbeats, tremors, feeling like you might pass out, vomiting, and explosive diarrhea!”

Now I don’t know about you, but when I hear these sorts side effects it makes me wonder why anyone with depression might even take medications like this. Now don’t get me wrong, I take an antidepressant because I have dealt with depression all of my life it seems–at least for a very large part of my life. I don’t by necessity see anything wrong with taking medication if it’s going to help you to level out and help you to think more clearly. They have helped me and keep me more emotionally stable and they help me keep my thoughts in order. I just happen to be one of the melancholy types. But, I really don’t think I want to know the side effects of these medications if they’re going to scare me to death!

Then there are the characters that they show on the commercials. I like the picture that I chose for this post simply because I like Strong Sad and the Zoloft character. I think they’re funny looking. But the real people that they show with masks or with paper plates that people have in front of their faces really don’t show what it’s like. I mean, who walks around with a paper plate in front of their face? Granted–and I understand why they do this–it is a picture of a depressed person who is hiding how they really feel. And depression is a serious mental disorder. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my own life because others really don’t see it. They don’t know what it feels like unless they’ve dealt with long bouts of the depression. It’s more than just “the blues.” The actors who portray the depressed people just don’t seem real to me.

First, they show them as being really depressed and sad, with no desire for anything in life. To a point I think that may be true for some, but it’s not true for all depressed people. They just see life differently than others. Then, after taking the medication that they are advertising, all of a sudden they’re happy and all is well in their new world of wellness. Well, life isn’t really like that either. Granted, you have between thirty seconds to one minute (or even two) that show the person go from the muck and mire to the “sky is the limit.” But that’s not always the case.

Second, I think that most depressed people, after taking the medications for a while (most meds don’t start working for a person right away; it takes up to two weeks to a month for meds to get in the system), will be able to better cope with their life situations. These meds generally give people a better sense of where they are so they can better deal with whatever the issues are with which they are dealing, but they don’t solve the issues. Many times the medications simply help the person to think more clearly so they can then have talk therapy. This helps them to work out their problems and makes life easier for them. Sometimes medications only need to be taken for a little while and with other people it may be the rest of their lives that they need to take the medications, depending on their doctor’s recommendation and their own personality.

Finally, the commercials are not always telling everything either. There are so many different side effects that perhaps they can’t mention in the commercials in the amount of time that they have. I would suggest that before anyone begins taking these sorts of medications that they really do their research on them and know exactly what the side effects might be in order to know in the case that they experience them. And of course, doctors will tell you that if you read all the side effects, you’ll end up experiencing a lot of them because you’re already dealing with depression and anxiety and all sorts of other things. But I’ve always done the research so I can know. I want to know. If I don’t like the way they make me feel, then I stop taking them and speak with my doctor about it. And there have been times when I needed them and when I no longer needed to take them.

So, let me close with this: If you deal with depression, know that the commercials are not all that accurate when it comes to the portrayal of those who are depressed for fifteen seconds then excited and happy the last fifteen seconds of the commercial. It takes time to work through life’s issues–and that’s alright. Some of us move slowly through those issues because we are thinking about so many things all at once. That’s where the medication helps to get the thoughts in order.

And remember, it’s alright if you’re depressed; just do what you need to do so you can continue to live life. Depression is not the end. Sometimes it’s just the beginning of living and learning.

“It’s the optics of the matter…”

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Source:https://www.mecnj.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/optics.jpg

Optics are important. Everywhere you look you need to see some sort of beauty. It’s the aesthetics that really count nowadays. From a theater or a worship center to the backdrop of a Presidential news conference, optics are important. But optics are not just about what people see around you or what you are wearing, optics include facial and body language. Where are your hands? How are your hands sitting? Which direction are you looking? Are you looking right at the person that is interviewing you?

Lighting in a building is set up for reasons. First, lighting is so that people can see–this is a given. There are some lights that are brighter than others. For instance, lights in a foyer may be brighter than the lights in a theater. It is so you are able to find the theater in to watch the movie for which you’ve paid. Once inside the theater, it’s a little more dim because it is preparing your mind for lights to be out so the only lights in the room (except for the walkway lights) will be from the movie on the screen. No one wants to be in a movie theater with bright lights on because we’ve been conditioned to watch movies without the lights on.

What about body language? I remember speaking with a friend of mine who would cross his arms when he spoke publicly. He would ask the audience a question then cross his arms and wait for someone to answer. His body language said: “I triple-dog dare you to answer my question!” Well, of course no one would take the triple-dog dare! They were scared of the guy! What about eye-contact? This friend of mine had a natural frown on his face. He wasn’t ever really mad or angry about anything. In fact, I can’t even remember a time that I’ve ever seen him upset. But the look on his face says that if you answer his question it better be right or else. It says, “I’m angry with you and I don’t care if you answer the question or not because I’ve also crossed my arms and I’m thinking about just punching the lights out of you!” Of course, nothing like this would be in his mind. He was as gentle as a teddy bear. But the optics of body language is important.

The background in a television show or movie is important. Most people will focus on the characters that are speaking in each scene. They don’t look at everything in the background. It’s the background that really tells the story in my opinion because of everything that each piece of the scene symbolizes or points to. For instance, in the television show Seinfeld, there appears in every show the kitchen shelf that has at least 8-12 boxes of cereal. The reason is that Jerry Seinfeld in the show loves cereal. After all, he’s a bachelor and eats only a few types of food at home–namely, cereal. Also, his favorite superhero character is Superman. In every episode of Seinfeld you will see a picture of Superman or a figurine of Superman on his shelf. Why? Because it relates to the character that Seinfeld is portraying in the show. Background optics are important as well.

So the optics this week of President Trump and President Putin meeting in Helsinki, Finland was very interesting. President Putin shows up thirty minutes late for the initial meeting. Interestingly enough, President Trump shows up ten minutes later. It’s a power play on both men’s parts. Moreover, when they walked into a room where there were two chairs sitting there for a photo opportunity, with lack of trust in his eyes, Putin would look at Trump to see what he was doing while Trump confidently was letting Putin know that he was not at all concerned with his presence and was posturing himself as a person of strength. Putin looked somewhat nervous in the way that he sat and the way he was looking at Trump. Trump on the other hand looked as if he was quite comfortable.

Then came the optics of the news conference with both men. Both men were standing at their respective podiums. Both men gave long opening statements and both men admitted to problems between the United States and Russia. There are issues and they both know it. This time, Putin looked as relaxed as Trump did. There was no hiding with either one of them as far as we could tell on the outside. They said what they meant and both men were showing strength. This is optics. They were “showing” strength. With both the American and Russian flags behind them in even number, optically speaking, the American flag was first. It’s all about optics.

This is why I put hair products on my head everyday and comb my hair.

Movies

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Source:https://i.pinimg.com/736x/3a/fc/35/3afc351b5e37489d43d195195d5fb5e8–free-tickets-movie-tickets.jpg

I love to go to the movies. Today, after eating lunch with a cousin of mine who visited my church even though I wasn’t there, we were able to take the family to a movie. We saw Ant Man & The Wasp. Now for my two sons I’m sure that it was a great movie. For me it is always difficult to go to the picture show. I guess since I’ve gotten older, I really don’t do well with movies on the big screen. The lights bother me and the loudness of the theater bothers me–and the cinemuck everywhere, and especially on the floor, bothers me.

The screens at movie theaters are huge. No one in their right mind would have a screen that large in their home (I’m sure that there are those multi-gazillionaires who have screens that large or even larger in their “theater rooms”, but I just don’t see the need). I think a good-sized screen is no bigger than a 50-55″. It bothers me to watch the big screen because I see everything that is going on in the movie shot. I know not everyone sees everything, but I can point things out on a screen that no one else even realizes was in the shot. My mind just goes on overload after a while. So if I go to the movie theater, I have to sit as far away from the screen as I can. The brightness really is too much in some scenes where I just close my eyes and cover my eyes. My wife makes fun of me when I do this.

Well, today the only seats that were available to us were the handicap seats: you know the seats that are in the big aisle as people are streaming in and out of the theater? It was too close for comfort for me. After all, I had already been in a church service with two large screens because I couldn’t see the speaker all that clearly from the far away seat where I was sitting. I think I was “screened” out for the day after that.

Then the loudness of the movie itself. Do movie theaters really have to be that loud? I know that I am hard of hearing. I don’t just have selective hearing. I have real hearing issues. There are some tones that I just cannot hear any longer while other tones I can hear just perfectly. But when you’re in a movie theater, you hear it all! I mean you H-E-A-R I-T A-L-L! It’s so loud that I think it is producing more hearing loss in my ears. My ears are ringing right now…wait…that’s the phone…I’ll be right back…

So you can hear everything perfectly well throughout the entire movie because it’s so loud. I can’t even turn up my own television that loud. Granted, I have a sound bar connected to it, but it’s still not as loud as that. I guess the movie industry wants us to feel what’s happening by having the sound the way it is. Well, believe you me, you can feel every thumpidy thump and every churn and turn and everything else. My ears are old. They like to have quiet nowadays.

And what about the cinemuck? Have you ever seen just how much stuff is left behind in a movie theater? I know that the reclining seats in the movie theater are an added attraction nowadays. The seats are much more comfortable when you can stretch out your legs and recline to watch the movie. The idea is to make you feel like you’re at home if you have recliners at home. It works for a lot of people. They do have recliners and they like to recline when they’re watching tv or a movie or whatever. But I ask you with all sincerity of heart: What germs are left behind for us? Who knows what the people who have sat in those recliners have done in those recliners? Germs! They’ve left germs, people! Granted, I left mine as well, but my germs shouldn’t be mixing with other people’s germs and vice versa!

I remember my mother and stepfather took us to a movie theater in their small town. I think it was called the Fain Theater. It was a one movie theater. When we walked in the theater, you could smell the oldness of the place. There was a pile of armrests for the seats and the seats themselves were kind of stinky, musty smelling. I didn’t want anything to eat from the concessions, but I did want something to drink–as long as it was in a bottle. I wiped it clean with my shirt. I just kept imagining that in the dark corner of that theater the Blob was there waiting to blob us and kills us. Then, from stepping off the carpet in the aisle to the floor in the aisle where our seats were, CINEMUCK! I lost a shoe! I was concerned about losing my sock and then I’d have to step in the CINEMUCK! So I hopped out all the way–after the movie! After all, we paid $5.25 per ticket and the drinks were $6.00 a piece! I personally think the Blob got the shoe and it may have made it sick!

Movies. It’s a love/hate relationship with me.